seven.

So, let's talk a little bit about animal cruelty.

After a wonderful, wild, and somewhat weird night, I got to thinking about what really constitutes as "cruelty to animals". It all started wih a moth in the microwave.

Long story short, no-one was allowed to enjoy a nice little bit of moth-corn, but it did cause a rather large schism in the group. Some mused that it was cruelty, and much less humane than squishing the darn thing to death, while others complained that as the ridiculous, flailing thing was dead anyway thait didn't matter the cause of death.

And I began to ponder.

Animal cruelty is pretty much frowned upon by everyone with a name. Yet these are the exact same people that will quite happily slap flys, swat at moths, and destroy bettles and ants with not a thought. Yet these are animals, are they not?

Insects, avians, mammals, amphibians, all these things are animals. Heck, even WE - being mammals - are animals. So, if we go with the ideals of "Survival of the Fittest" then killing bugs is just another cog in the wheel, another spoke in the circle of life. Evolution IS working, so all we're really doing is contributing to Darwinism by getting rid of the animals that were stupid enough to fly into the room.

And for pretty much that reason, I'm on their side. Death, yes, is tragic, whether something small or large, but almost ironically: life goes on. With every thing that dies another creature is born in it's place. So why must I repent my sins for killing the bettle on my leg that summer?

But why stop at bugs? This is where the problems come in. Where do you draw the line? It's fine to kill a small creature that's commonly considered a problem, but hey! Mice and rats are considered "vermin" by a great deal of people? Why can't we kill them the same way? Just smash them out, much like we do other "creepy-crawlies"? Because it's mean, evil, and murderous to kill anything larger than an inch.

Fuck, why stop there? I'm a furry, I love animals. A LOT. Animals are one of my favourite things in life. But if we're gunna kill another species of animal - the humble ant or common house-spider - what about something bigger? DO the same principles apply? Cheetahs. Lions. Elephants. Even domesticated cats and dogs. Why do we not kill these things? The common answer? "Because it's wrong."

But is it really wrong? Like I said, the Circle of Life continues. Evolution IS working. So if an animal is stupid enough to walk into a bear trap, or a noose, shouldn't it just be allowed to die? Another spoke in the wheel?

But hey, why not stop there. Humans! Being animals ourselves, we can kill each other. It's got a name: Murder. But hey, if it's okay to murder a fly, isn't it okay to kill something larger, like a human? Or not even that, maybe we can just enslave them, and treat them like their already dead. We can even use a group of people that lives in perpetual poverty, like all the black people in Uganda, Tanzania, The Congo. Make them do our dirty work. And if they're stupid enough to cross the line? We can kill them. Just like animals.

And you can almost see, in a weird, twisted sort of way, exactly the thought processes of Hunter, Slavers, and other groups considered evil throughout the world. It's almost logical, really.

And that's what angers me. Because it shouldn't be that logical.

And that's when I stopped thinking, and cleaned the microwave. Hopefully it's clean enough for Alex.